Brown Bag English Toffee

1 -2 cup chocolate chips 2 cups (or more) roughly chopped roasted almonds
½ lb butter 1 Tbs water
1 cup sugar

Butter a sheet cake pan (or use a silpat silicone baking mat if you have one).

To roast whole almonds in microwave: Put several handfuls of almonds on a dinner plate & microwave 3 minutes. Do this ahead of time so they’ll cool down enough to handle. You can rough chop them once cool. Large & small pieces are fine; use a knife or a mini chopper. Spread a cup or so of the almonds on about half of a buttered sheet pan. This recipe will use just over a half of the pan but you can double the recipe easily & use the whole pan if doubled.

Have ready 1-2 cups of chocolate chips (Costco’s Ambrosia brand is good or use what you like.)

Put the ½ lb butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1 Tbs water in a saucepan over low heat. Stir now & then till it melts then raise the heat to medium low to bring to a boil. Using a silicone heat safe spatula or a metal spoon, stir constantly till it turns just darker than the color of a brown paper bag. Keep the bag next to the stove.

Pour the hot candy onto the buttered pan, right over the almonds. Spread out if necessary using an offset spatula or a big knife. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top & let sit for a minute to melt then spread the chocolate across the entire hot surface (start with about 1 cup then add more if you need them). Sprinkle more almonds on the top of the chocolate (or finely chopped almonds or almond dust, if you want it to look more like Almond Roca). Press the almonds into the top to be sure they have contact with the chocolate but watch out, your spoon may stick to the chocolate if it touches it.

Let it cool down & harden, then break into pieces with a knife point.

Tips: Don’t think you’ll save time by melting the butter before adding the sugar: the candy will separate & you’ll be disappointed. Don’t use a wooden spoon for candy making. Microscopic bits of dried food in the wood can affect the outcome of the recipe.